Rebecca Farm’s Friday News and Notes from FLAIR

Good morning Eventing Nation!

Lots of great events are going on this weekend! My cousin is getting married!!! WOOO! Oh, horse events? Right. Well Rebecca Farm is a biggy as well as Stuart HT on the east coast. If you’re stuck in the middle, I’ll catch you at Roebke’s Run in Minnesota this weekend. Heading south, Becky Holder is coaching good friend Ashley Keller and other great students at Chatt Hills. My first working student gig was with Dorothy Crowell and she’s at Champagne Run this weekend midcountry. Barb Crabo’s down in AZ at Cococino while good friends Lainie Ashker, Katlyn McMorris, and Chris Talley as well as my EN/HN counterparts Annie Yeager and Leslie Wylie hit up Loch Moy in Maryland. And, Torrance Watkins and Mikki Kutcha are further up the coast at Riga this weekend. Go eventing wherever you are.

Weekend Events:

Event at Rebecca Farm (MT, A-7):   [Website] [LIVE SCORING]
Cosequin Stuart CIC**/* and H.T. (NY, A-1):   [Website] [LIVE SCORING]
Coconino Classic Event & H.T. (AZ, A-10):   [Website] [LIVE SCORING]
Champagne Run at the Park H.T. (KY, A-8):   [Website] [LIVE SCORING]
The Maryland H.T. at Loch Moy Farm II (MD, A-2):   [Website] [RESULTS]
Chattahoochee Hills H.T. (GA, A-3):    [Website] [LIVE SCORING]
Roebke’s Run H.T. (MN, A-4):    [Website] [LIVE SCORING]
Riga Meadow H.T. (CT, A-1):    [Website]
Rebecca Farm wins the award for most stories about an event!
Equestrian is the hardest sport in the Olympics according to Yahoo! Sports. Duh. We knew this. We’ll take a little liberty here and make a subcategory where Eventing is the hardest of the Equestrian Olympic Sports. We’re not biased. Honest. Some of my favorites: “27. Table tennis — It’s cliche to poke fun at table tennis, so I won’t go that route…. 6. Modern Pentathlon — The hardest part: Remembering which five sports to compete in.” It’s a satire, fyi. [Yahoo!]
Peter Barry was interviewed by the local news about making the Canadian London squad. He and Eddie have been working hard for the last seven years and finally made their dreams come true with daily hard work. The farm is lovely, the family supportive, the rider humble, and the horse tremendously athletic. What a duo! We’ll be cheering you on in London! [CTV Video]
Our good friends over at Equisearch have an awesome Olympic contest for those of us that win medals everyday by being crazy enough to be involved in this industry. There are three events, and you can only enter one. World-Class Mucking, Heavyweight Stretching and Freestyle Trailer Parking are the three divisions of photo entry you can compete in. Prizes include gift certificates, a ton of feed (literally) and memberships to USRider. You’ve gotta be 18 and a resident of the US or DC, among other credentials. Enter now through August 1. Good luck! [Equisearch]
Our lovely Samantha has interviewed a member of each of the Australian, US, Irish, and New Zealand Teams. Lucinda Fredericks, Boyd Martin, Will Coleman, Mark Kyle, Jock Paget and more all in one short hour of fun on the Eventing Radio Show. [ERS]
In case you were feeling old and useless when thinking of 17 year old Reed Kessler and her being named to the SJ Squad, I’m here to make you feel worse. We’ve got the eventing version: Elaine Pen of the Dutch Squad is only 22 years old. Congratulations!  I’m off to finally nail my posting diagonals and make something of my riding career. [H&H]
In other Olympic news, the Republicans and Democrats agree on something this year: it’s outrageous that the Ralph Lauren Opening Ceremony outfits for the US Olympic team are being manufactured in China. Citing poor foreign trade policy for the current state of affairs, the clothes aren’t being manufactured stateside nonetheless. Hugo Boss has been thrown around for a possible substitute since they have a manufacturing plant in Cleveland. The US, unlike most other countries, funds their Olympic Team from private funding. [ESPN/AP]
Award-winning journalist, Nancy Jaffers, has an Eventing Team preview for London. Nothing against Nancy, but there’s not a whole lot in the article that hasn’t been discussed ad-nauseum here on EN. The team is made of two anchors or Boyd and Phillip. Then Karen and Will take up the seats slated for pairs that will finish with decent dressage, while Tiana has the “risky” spot. Surprisingly, Sinead and Neville didn’t make the squad when they seemed the sure bets last fall. Nothing is final in horses. [Equisearch]
Ever wonder why you wear pants? It’s because you ride a horse, obviously! “Historically there is a very strong correlation between horse-riding and pants,” says Peter Turchin, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Connecticut. The links from traditional dress of warriors before and after the introduction of horses to the cavalry can’t be ignored. The Romans skipped the pants and are the reason we wear breeches today. [When in Rome]
Best of the Blogs:
Kathleen Stiles of COTH has blogged advice about horse shopping overseas. Having known some people to do this, her evaluation seems spot on. ” I see a horse under dim outdoor lights at 10 p.m. No one seems to find this unusual. The sellers line up cars and turn on the high beams but may as well pull out flashlights.” [COTH]
Throwback:
Jessica Pye and Bounder had a very successful outing at Chatt Hills last weekend. The pair finished 2nd in the intermediate division. Bounder went into the dressage and was very workmanlike scoring a 34.4 on all 6s and 7s. One of only 5 double clear rounds in the sj, she opted to take off her running martingale. They had a slower go on the cross country due to the hard ground and having lost a shoe early out on course. They’re doing at least the dressage this weekend at Chatt Hills round 2. [Pye Equestrian]
We love Smartpak for so many reasons, but this latest one really hits out heart strings. Remember those foam fingers Steven Colbert enticed us with? Well Smartpak is giving one away free with any purchase! Love those guys. They think of everything. [Smartpak]
We start and finish our day with Rebecca Farm. Here’s course designer Ian Stark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LnzXM3D3RY&feature=plcp
Go eventing.

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